Sudbury's Eat Local wants to grow but needs cash to do so

Morning North5:07Eat Local Sudbury looking to expand with new services

Eat Local Sudbury food co-op hopes to grow its business and provide more services. It wants to raise 75 thousand dollars before the end of this year. The CBC's Samantha Lui spoke with Eat Local Sudbury Executive Director Peggy Baillie about the plan.

Eat Local Sudbury is askingSudburiansto help expand its business.

The grocery store recently proposed a food education centre called the Seed to Plate Commons to city council, but for that to move ahead, it needs to raise $75,000 by the end of the year.

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The executive director of the Eat Local Sudbury Co-op says if the store isn't able to expand from where it is now it could close in the future.

"I think that's a big concern and people also really want to see that we're going to do the Seed to Plate Commons project," Peggy Baillie said.

"But [unless] we stand up as a community and we support this, then those things won't happen. We will stay open and we will do the Seed to Plate Commons project because, if that's what the community wants, then that's what will happen."

The group is aiming to raise $40,000 by June 1.

Eat Local supports local farmers and its downtown store is a place where shoppers can go and get a wide variety of locally grown food products.

Allison Muckle, is a farmer at Rowantree Farms and sells pork at the Co-op. The funds help her continue her work as a producer, as a third of the meat she produces is sold at the store.

"They're very supportive working with farmers, especially small-scale farmers like me, which is really nice," she said.

"[It's] something I wouldn't have access to if they weren't around."

The Eat Local Sudbury Co-op was established in 2007 and has been selling locally produced food downtown since 2010.